At the invitation of the ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP, liberal Prime Ministers and European Commissioners met at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday 17 December ahead of the European Council Summit of the same day.

Crucial topics were discussed such as the refugee crisis, Passenger Name Records (PNR) and the proposal of the President of the European Council on safeguarding our external land and sea borders.

The ALDE Party regrets to learn that for the second time in a matter of weeks, Sergei Mitrokhin the leader of YABLOKO, ALDE Party Member in Russia, has been arrested by authorities while participating in peaceful public events.

On Saturday 12 December, the date the Russian Constitution was adopted by referendum in 1993, 12 persons in total including YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin and other YABLOKO activists Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko, Grigory Semyonov, Stanislav Belyansky and Igor Bakirov were arrested by police while peacefully commemorating Russian Constitution day in Pushkin Square.

The new Liberal ALDE party president Hans van Baalen ran his party’s campaign to get the Dutch to support the draft EU constitution in 2005. “In the end it was all about the heart. Statistics don’t work. In Britain it will be the same. It has to be a campaign of the heart, that changes the sentiment.” The In campaign can’t get caught up in the renegotiation process, he says, because “The Out people just go straight to the heart and are always miles ahead.”

On Wednesday 9 December the ALDE Party and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Europe hosted the last Liberal Breakfast of the year with the new ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP.

Under the title "Hands on: How can Liberals unite?", Van Baalen talked about his presidency priorities and internal party issues and had his say on current European issues, such as the refugee crisis and security issues.

During his visit to Brussels, Polish liberal leader Ryszard Petru (Nowoczesna) met with ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen and ALDE Group leader Guy Verhofstadt discussing closer cooperation between both sides during his visit to Brussels.

In a press conference at the European Parliament, Petru announced that he wishes to join the European Liberal Movement.

From 4 to 6 December newly elected ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP visited Tbilisi, Georgia to meet with a range of stakeholders including the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili and a wide range of local NGOs. Van Baalen also visited Georgia to support and share advice for ALDE Party's two member parties the Republican Party of Georgia and the Free Democrats Party in view of next year's important parliamentary elections in Georgia.

At the most recent ALDE Party Congress, held in Lisbon, Hans van Baalen MEP was elected as one of the new ALDE Party Vice Presidents, together with Austrian MEP Angelika Mlinar. This week Liberal Eyes features Mr Van Baalen to learn more about his priorities.